Westworld Season 2: Are Roman and Medieval Worlds Coming?

When Westworld wrapped up its twist-filled first season last year, fans were treated to a brief glimpse of other, non-cowboy-centric playgrounds to come. At one point during the finale, our robotic heroes wandered out of the realm of hats and lassoes and into a room marked “SW,” where men in feudal Japanese armor attacked each other with swords. During this summer’s Comic-Con, when asked about a possible “Samurai” or “Eastworld” in Season 2, notoriously secretive show-runner Jonah Nolan weaponized a familiar phrase from Season 1 in order to dodge the question: “Doesn’t look like anything to me.” Meanwhile, star Ed Harrisjoked about Season 2: “I just don’t want to be naked or wearing a samurai suit . . . I’m saying that publicly. I’m the Man in Black, not the Man in the Samurai Suit.”

But during day two of Vanity Fair’s fourth annual New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles, Nolan hinted that we may see another world or two next year that have nothing to do with Samurai.

At the top of the panel discussion moderated by Maureen Dowd, Nolan and co-show-runner Lisa Joy were asked why the Roman and Medieval Worlds—which featured in the original 1973 Michael Crichton film—were left out of the first season. Nolan teased: “We had to save something for Season 2.” That is by no means a confirmation that knights in armor and warriors in sandals will definitely appear next year, but it does reinforce some popular suspicions that we may not see Samurai World just yet.

If Samurai World were indeed coming soon, then wouldn’t we have learned of some Japanese actors joining the cast of Season 2 by now? (The series is currently shooting.) True, Delos is a futuristic corporation which, as we learned last year, isn’t entirely and fussily historically accurate when it comes to the race of its A.I. characters. That being said, it’s doubtful that an HBO series in 2017 co-run by an Asian-American woman would deliver a Samurai World devoid of any Asian actors.

Instead, HBO has announced that Gustaf Skarsgård (yes, another one of those Skarsgårds), Fares Fares (Rogue One), and Betty Gabriel (Get Out) will all join the show as characters that sound like they’re probably human, rather than robotic. (Though on Westworld, you never know.) Meanwhile, Jonathan Tucker,Neil Jackson, and Katja Herbers have also been added in roles that are either likely human guests or, in Tucker’s case, a frontier-ready “Major Craddock.” In other words, none of these new characters sound like a perfect match for any other world, be it Samurai, Roman, or Medieval. Unless, of course, Westworld is holding back a few casting surprises.

Still, the tiger that washed up on the banks of the park in the Season 2 trailer would indicate that something Eastern is coming to Westworld. And ever since Thandie Newton’s character, Maeve, received a note from helpful Delos tech Felix saying she’d find her daughter in “Park 1,” fans have been wondering just how many parks there are in this world. Perhaps we’ll find out for certain when Westworld returns in 2018.

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